Commercialism hits again

Having another musical moment.

I love the Subways album "Young for Eternity" and have it blasting loud and often... Favourite songs include Mary, Rock n Roll Queen (which you can find on a FIFA game, Guitar Hero, and on the RocknRolla soundtrack, probably their most famous song from this album), Oh Yeah , and I wanna hear what youve got to say. Its just generally awesome.

I might be a bit behind the times, but they have a new album called All or Nothing. Its left me pretty cold... Their old vocals were great, it was rock n roll and it wasn't perfect, cos they're too busy letting loose and rockin out, and their music was unleashed upon the listener, the kind of music that you wanna kick your shoes off, use a beer bottle as a microphone and dance on a table with your friends, playing the air guitar. This new album hasn't got the same raw quality. It feels alot smoother, refined and a bit more commercial. There are hints of their old unrestrained rock n roll like the start of Shake Shake, but you can hear the shackles of commercialised pop rock dragging them down a bit... Their vocals are too clear and toned down, they sound like they're trying to sound "better", or clearer or just sound a bit more like everyone else to appeal to the masses. and I HATE that. I will have to listen to the album more than once though...

The same thing happened with Kings of Leon. Their old vocals were SO distinctive, mainly because you have no idea what they're singing about - you cant understand it because he mumbles and has a strong southern accent. Their music was THEIRS and it was very personalised, it was their style and they rocked it. It was just music they wanted to play. Some of my favourites are Taper Jean Girl (which is one of my favourite songs from their album Aha Shake Heartbreak), Velvet Snow, The Bucket, and King of the Rodeo. With their new stuff, their vocals are really different, hes refined them so much, it feels like, for me, that he's lost alot of what made KOL so cool, the distinctive vocals! You can understand everything he says, he hardly has an accent anymore, and while you can still tell its him, he's trying to appeal to a wider audience by not being too much of a "niche" vocalist. I remember saying to a friend, before I discovered them (which was LATE, I never really listened to them until they got FLOGGED on the radio with Sex on Fire etc) that I didnt like his voice because it sounded to me like he was a tryhard, wanting to sound like something hes not. Turns out, upon listening to their old stuff and LOVING it that I feel thats the case... Im not totally bagging their new stuff out, I do like it, but its not NEARLY as good as their old stuff, which feels to me like they had less commercial boundaries, they just played what they liked.

Lets hope all my other favourite bands dont jump on the wagon!